A man calling himself "eagle dad" recently stirred up a public controversy after he uploaded a video of his 4-year-old son, whom he had forced to run naked in the snow, to the Internet.

The father He Liesheng, 44, considers himself a new Chinese parental archetype in the tradition of the so-called "tiger mom".

"When the old eagle teaches its young, it takes the young eagles to the cliff side, beats them and pushes them to teach them to use their wings, and I believe I am helping my son in this way – to force him to challenge limitations and exceed his own expectations," he said.

On a family vacation to New York during the Spring Festival holiday, He recorded the video of his son running naked in a minus 13 C blizzard.

After He uploaded the video to the Internet as a "New Year's gift" to his friends, the post received a flurry of hits and comments criticizing He’s so-called lesson to his child.

He said on Tuesday that his son He Yide was diagnosed with cerebral palsy because he was born a premature baby, which could hinder the intellectual development of a child.

To make the son as healthy as others, he drew up a training schedule and rigorously adhered to it. The training included swimming, hiking and jogging but not running naked.

"The naked run on Chinese New Year’s Eve just represents my good wish for the coming year," He said.

The father said he is confident in this style of education because he majored in education in university and worked as a teacher for seven years before becoming a businessman in Nanjing, Jiangsu province. And He said his son now has scored very high on an IQ test.